Burnishing tool



Feb. 12 19240 1,483,098 A. D. MANSON BURNISHING TOOL Filed April 19. .1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 12 192% A. D. MANSON BURNISHING TOOL Filed p l 19, 1920', 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 12, 1924.

UNITED STATES l 1,483,8fi8

PATENT rrlca.

ARTHUR D. MANSON, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

BURNISHING TOOL.

Application filed April 19, 1920. Serial No. 374,968.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR D. MANSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Burnishing Tools, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a speci fication, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to shoe finishing machines, and is herein described as embodied in a machine for burnishing the contour surfaces of heels of boots and shoes.

A type of machine commonly used for this purpose is provided with a rotary finishing tool having a working face made up of a series ofdiagonally disposed, yieldingly mounted, burnishing elements arranged to follow each other successively over theheel surface operated upon. The yielding mounting of these diagonally disposed members is depended upon only to treat the minor irregularities of the heels operated upon, the tool as a whole, up to the time of the present invention, having been made to conform to the exact height, pitch and contour of the back of the heel on which it was intended to operate. While such finishing tools are highly effective for operating upon the particular heels for which they respectively are designed, they have the disadvantage that a considerable number of different tools must be kept on hand to finish the different styles of heels made. Moreover, since a different tool must be used for each different kind of heel, there is a considerable loss of time due to the necessity of changing the tool when the operative passes from one form of heel to another. v

It is an object of the present invention, accordingly, to provide a heel finishing tool which shall be substantially universal in that itmay be elfectively utilized to finish heels of the different types or styles in ordinary use, including Louis heels of varying forms, the so-called straight heels used on womens shoes, such as Cuban and military heels, and others, as well, of course, as the ordinary run of heels used on mens and childrenlsshoes. This may be accomplished by making a portion of the finishing tool of such a shape as is appropriate to the finishing of straight and the upper portion of Louis heels, and an adjoining portion of a progressively varying curvature, different parts of which may be selected to fit the curvature of the lower part of different styles and shapes of Louis heels.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the fore part of the tool is of a substantially, but not necessarily exactly, conical form, and the rear portion is in the form of a conoid with its radial section of a progressively increasing radius of curvature, passing from approximately the position of maximum diameter toward the rear. Otherwise expressed, the illustrated. tool, considered as a whole, may be said to have the form of a conoid generated by the rota tion about a fixed axis of a line, one portion of which is straight or 'of a very slight curvature, and another portion of which, adjacent to the'termination of the substantially straight portion, is curved with a progressively increasing radius of curvature. With a tool so formed, a straight heel or the upper part of a Louis heel can be finished on the forward portion of the tool, while the lower part of a Louis heel can be finished on the rear portionof the tool. Moreover, owing to the variation in the curvature of the rear portion of the tool, Louis heels of widely different dimensions and curvature may be finished With the same tool, it being necessary only to select and utilize that portion of the tool which corresponds to the curvature of the particular heel to be finished.

A feature of the illustrated embodiment of the invention lies in the making of the tool of such form that the diameters at the front and rear ends of the tool are approximately' equalv This has at least two desirable results. First, the difference between the maximum and minimum diameters is reduced to a minimum, and, as a consequence the tendency of molten wax. used with the tool to collect on the portion of maximum diameter, and hence to spatter off and to be unevenly applied to the work, is reduced to a minimum; and second, in operating upon womens' shoes with the usual types ofheels the shoe may he heldat tools of this: typeare commonly. providedwith other tools, for instance with covered pad brushes and with finishing brushes, lo-

cated to the rear of the burnishing tool, this reduces the distance through which the shoe must be moved in presenting it to the difl'erent tools, thus reducing the strain upon the operative and correspondingly increasing the output.

With these and other objects and fea tures in view, the invention will now be described as embodied in an illustrative ma chineoandf pointed outin' appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figs. 1 and2'are plan views'of1thefinishing toolof thepresent invention, showing a shoe with its heel in" such relation theretotas' to illustrate the finishing of theupper and lower portions, respectively, of aLouis heel- Fig. 3 is a similar diagram illustrating the finishing of a straight heel; and

Fig: 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of a machine in which this tool may be embodied and showing, its relation to other tools of the machine.

The tool 8 of the present invention is made up of aseries of diagonallydisposed burnishing. elements 10 independently supported, as through projections 12 formed on their under. sides, by leaf springs 14 secured at one end to a hub member 16 and capable oflimit'ed' movement at'their other ends. Tools of this character are wellknown and are in general use at the present time and it is therefore considered unnecessary to describe in further detail the constructionthereof. It should be noted, how- I ever, that the showing of the drawings is intended to be exemplary and to be taken in anillustrative sense, and that the tool of the present invention is in no way limited to. one having its elements supported as shown.

The burnishing tool of the present inventionis' formed, as clearly shown in the Fig ures ofthe drawings, with its forward portion" 30 substantially conical. so as to con formzsubstantially to' the upper portion of a Louis heel orto' the entirecontour surface ofa so-called straight heel. Since, however, the so-called straight heels actually are usually'made with a slight curvature, it isdesirable t'odepart somewhat from a true cone in shaping theiforward portion of the tool"andito* givea slight bulge to thecurvature' thereof. Therear portion 32 of the tool is; formed of a comparatively sharp curvature hut" with a gradually increasing radius of curvature-passing rearwardly from approximately the position of maxi mum diameter. Thus thewtool is sosliaped that a portion thereof towards the rear may be found to fit the curvature of the lower part of any'Louis heel; In burnishing a straight heel with this tool it is necessary only to move the shoe so that thedifferent parts of the contour surface of the heel are presented to the tool in the usual manner. In burnishing a Louis heel however, it is necessary to make'two passes of the shoe at the tool, the first burnishing the upper portion of the heel and the second the lower portion, the longitudinal axis ofthe shoe being rotated in the plane of the axis of the tool between the two passes so as to bring the lower portion ofthe heel into contact 'withthe appropriate part of the tool.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the heel is illustrated in a position slightly removed from the burnishing tool so that'the edge of the heel and the edge of the tool maybe indicated b7 separate lines and their relation more cfearly shown. In the actual use oftlie tool ofcourse, the heel is pressed firmly in contact therewith, hot wax, ifjdesired, being applied to the heel in the usual way.

In Figs. t the burnishing tool as a whole is shown as carried by a shaft 18 suitably supported by a frame 20, the latter carrying also suitable hearings for a shaft 22, the two shafts being illustrated as parallelj The shaft22 may carry appropriate tools, for instance a beading tool"%, a padded brush 26' an'd'a finishing brush 28. The two shafts are driven at high speed by any appropriate means.

It will be apparent from Fig. 4 that'the shoe the heel of which has been hurnished by the tool 8 is in position convenientlyto be transferred rea-rwardly to the other finishing-tools andthat the operative may do this with greater facility than would be the caseif the tool 8 were of such pitch that the shoe was inclined forwardly to the left and so, considered as a whole, was at a greater distance from the other tools.

Having described my invention, what I claim'as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A rotary heel finishing tool made up of a series of relatively .uiovable finishing ele ments each having its front and rear portions of substantially the same diameter and its median portion of a greater diameter than its front and rear portions, saidtool being constructed and arranged thereby to generate a work engag ng surface adapted to treat one part. of a heel at one side: of the greater diameter and a surface-adapted to treat another part of'a heel at'the'other side of'said diameter;

2: A; rotaryheel finishing toolicomprising a carrier yieldingly sustaining a series. of independently supported, diagonally distposed, finishing members, arranged to follow each other successively over the heel surface operated upon, the front and rear diameters of the tool as a whole being substantially equal, and the section of greater diameter of the tool disposed therebetween, said tool being constructed and arranged so that pieces of'work of markedly different character may be applied to the surfaces at either side of the section of greater diameter and clearance left between the work and the part of the tool not being used.

3. A rotary heel finishing tool having a portion of its surface of a conoidal form with the periphery of its radial longitudinal section having a median point of maximum diameter and constructed with a radius of curvature progressively increasing from the maximum diameter to one end.

4:. A rotary heel finishing tool having a portion of conical shape to conform to the contour surface of straight heels or to the upper portion of Louis heels, and an adjoining portion of a progressively varying curvature different portions of which may .be selected to conform to the curvature of the lower part of different styles and shapes of Louis heels.

5. A rotary heel finishing tool having its forward portion of a substantially conical form and its rear portion of a conoidal form with the periphery of its radial section of a progressively increasing radius of curvature, passing from approximately the position of maximum diameter of the tool toward the rear.

6. A rotary heel finishing tool having the form of a conoid generated by the rotation about a fixed axis of a line one portion of which is substantially straight, and another portion of which, adjacent to the termination of said substantially straight portion, is curved with a progressively increasing radius of curvature.

7. A rotary heel finishing tool having the form of a conoid generated by the rotation about a fixed axis of a line a portion of which is a curve of large radius corresponding to the slight curvature of a so-called straight heel, and another portion of which adjacent to the termination of said first named portion is curved with a less but progressively increasing radius of curvature.

8. A rotary heel finishing tool having a working face comprising two difi'erently formed work engaging surfaces, one surface constructed and arranged to finish a certain portion of a heel and the other surface constructed and arranged to finish a different portion of the heel, said surfaces meeting near the maximum diameter of the tool as a whole thereby leaving clearance for that part of the heel not being treated.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ARTHUR D. MANSON. 

